In Mandaeism, Hayyi Rabbi or Heyyi Rabbi (; ), 'The Great Living God', is the supreme God from which all things emanate.
Hayyi Rabbi is also known as the "First Life", since during the creation of the material world, Yushamin emanated from Hayyi Rabbi as the 'Second Life'. According to Qais Al-Saadi,
Mandaeans recognize God to be the eternal, creator of all, the one and only in domination, who has no partner.Hanish, Shak (2019). The Mandaeans In Iraq. In "God is worshiped alone and praised as the Supreme Force of the universe. He presides over all the worlds and all of creation." In Mandaeism, is the belief in One God (cf. Middle Aramaic (sāhdutā) "testimony").
Names Hayyi Rabbi is also referred to in Mandaean scriptures as: , ('The First Great Life') , ('The Alien/Transcendental Great Life').
Other names used are:Drower, Ethel Stefana. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1937.Rudolf, K. (1978). Mandaeism. Leiden: Brill. ('Lord of Greatness' or 'The Great Lord') ('The Great Mind') ('King of Light') ('The First Life')
Kušṭa ('Truth', ) is also another name for Hayyi Rabbi, as well as Parṣupa Rba ('Great Immanence, Great Countenance'). In the Ginza Rabba (in Right Ginza books 1 and 2.1), the divine countenance of Hayyi Rabbi is referred to as the "Great Countenance of Glory" ( , ). In the Asut Malkia, a commonly recited Mandaean prayer, another name for Hayyi Rabbi is Aba Rba ḏ-ʿqara ( 'Great Father of Glory').
According to E. S. Drower, the name Great Mind or Great Mana refers to the "over-soul" or "over-mind", the earliest manifestation of Hayyi, from which the soul of a human might be seen as a spark or temporarily detached part. In book three of the Right Ginza, Hayyi is said to have "formed Himself in the likeness of the Great Mana, from which He emerged".
Brikha Nasoraia writes:
In prayers
Many Mandaean texts and prayers begin with the opening phrase b-šumaihun ḏ-hiia rbia (; ; ). It is similar to the basmala in Islam and the Christian Trinitarian formula).
See also Absolute (philosophy) Al-Ḥayy, one of the 99 names of God in Islam Ein Sof Father of Greatness, in Manichaeism Mandaean cosmology Monad (Gnosticism) Names of God Tetragrammaton Ultimate reality
References